Times Tables Trouble
by bamboo72498
Summary: Set six years after 'Double Play', another Five Little monkey's adventure. The quints are eight and in Third Grade. Author's Note inside explains more.


**Did you guys miss me? I know I've been gone quite a long time, and i have no other excuse other than writers block and a little bit of laziness. **

**Anyway, I wanted to share some things before we begin. First: Alexis and Max are married and have a child that will get introduced here. Second: this is for all of the kids who hated learning their times tables. Third: tell me i'm not the only one who knows the 'nines trick'? Sixth, and lastly: a disclaimer. I don't own any of the characters you recognize. I DO own Max Foster, McKenna Foster, and Danielle, Liam, Miyana, Austin and Finn Castle.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

Family dinner was in full swing at the Castle house. Kids were running all around, sneaking cheese and crackers off the tray on the table before running off to play again. The adults were munching on snacks as well, sipping their drinks and making small talk until dinner was ready to eat.

Miyana is sitting with the adults, taking a break from playing. She's trying to explain to her older sister and brother-in-law how her teacher is enticing them to learn their math facts.

". . . And if we get our frog all the way across the river, it means we learned all our multiplication tables to twelve and we get to go to the end of year ice cream party."

"And how far have you gotten?" Max asks, lifting his three year old daughter, McKenna, into his lap.

"I'm stuck on my nines," Mia confesses, looking at her tight covered legs and playing with the hem of her pink shirt dress.

"You'll get there, I know you will," Max smiles, reaching over and grabbing the piece of cheese McKenna was whining for.

"Has your teacher taught you the 'nines trick' yet?" Alexis asks, coming to stand behind her husband and daughter, taking the hair band she had gone to grab and tying back the latter's thin, strawberry blonde hair.

"There's a 'nines trick'?" Three people pipe up at once. Alexis laughs and finishes with her child's hair.

"There is; I learned it in like fifth or sixth grade, changed my life."

"Show me Lexi!" Mia shouts, smiling at this secret her sister has.

"Okay, hold out your hands like this," Alexis instructs, holding her hands up to her face, her fingers splayed. She waits for Miyana to follow, and hums a laugh when she sees her dad, Kate and Max all doing the same. Evidently they want to learn this trick as well.

"Now what?" Her dad asks, impatient.

"Now let's say we're doing nine times six," Lexi says, looking to her sister, who nods. "Now count over six fingers," she starts to count, wiggling her finger as she goes. "Then put down that sixth finger," she lays down her right thumb, and watches as the other's do as well. "Now count how many fingers are up on the left of the one we put down."

Miyana mumbles the words as she counts, to keep track in her mind. "Five," she announces.

"Good. Now, how many are to the right?"

"Four."

"If we put those two numbers together we would get?"

"Fifty four?" This time it's Max who's asking, almost on the same level as his Third Grade sister in understanding this trick.

"Exactly!" Alexis shouts, smiling at her husband.

"I think I get it," Mia says, her brow furrowing in question, not sure if she fully understands the trick just yet.

"Do you want me to show you another?" Lexi asks, and gets a feverish nod in return. So the two go off in their own little group, trying out problem after problem, and Max scoots closer to Rick and Kate.

"Did you know about this trick? Kate asks him, leaning on the counter.

"MmHmm, learned it in sixth grade, after learning my times tables the hard way," he laughs.

"Is that why you knew what was going on?" Rick questions, turning off the oven timer signaling dinner is only a short time away.

"I didn't want to leave her hanging," he confesses, bouncing the toddler still in his lap. McKenna giggles and looks up at her dad, smiling. "Your mommy is smart sometimes, Cona girl," Max tells her.

"Mommy so smart," Cona replies, swiping another cheese slice.

By the end of the evening, Miyana has gotten the hang of the 'nines trick' and is running around trying to teach it too her brothers and sisters.

As Alexis and Max are packing up to leave, Miyana runs up to her older sister and hugs her around her hips.

"Thank you, Lexi, for teaching me that trick," Mia says, looking into Lexi's bright, blue eyes.

"Don't sweat it kiddo. It was time you learned that trick; hopefully it will help you sooner than it did for me."

"I think it will. I bet not even my teacher knows that one!"

Alexis laughs, not so sure of her sister's last statement. "I wouldn't be so sure, Mia, teachers know a lot of stuff we don't think they do."

"Oh," Miyana sighs. "Well I'm going to show her tomorrow at school and see what she says."

"You do that and tell me what happens, alright?" Alexis asks, and Miyana smiles and nods. The family says final good-byes before walking through the front door and to their car. Castle watches to make sure they drive off safely, before turning the porch light off and locking the door.

"Alright: bed time."

And that gets him fives times the protests he got when Alexis was little.

[] []

"I'm never going to get this!" Danielle cries, dropping her pencil on top of the practice test she was sent home with. It's the third time she's said that all night, and Castle just wants to pull the plug. Say that's good for today and put the page away to try again tomorrow. Especially if it's frustrating his daughter this much. But he doesn't. He simply hums and tosses the towel he was using to dry his hands after washing dishes over to the counter before walking to his daughter's side.

The kids are doing homework, spread all over the kitchen: some at the table, some at the breakfast bar, and another lying on his belly on the floor, finishing a poster for a project due tomorrow.

"You know this one," Castle encourages, looking at the problem his daughter is stuck on.

"No, I don't," Dani sighs, setting her elbow on the counter and laying her cheek in her hand.

"Okay, let's break it down," Castle says, taking the pencil and writing the problem on a scrap piece of paper. "What's two times two?"

"Four," Danielle mumbles, glancing over at her dad.

"Good. What's two times one?"

"Two," Danielle sits up, her brown furrowing for a moment.

"Okay, so we put a zero here to hold our place, right?" He's writing as he talks, and can feel the Third  
Grader looking over his shoulder.

"And two times one is two, and one times one is one," Danielle finishes, taking the pencil back and writing the answer. She quickly adds up the numbers and smiles when she gets the right answer. "One forty-four," she says, looking at Castle.

"See, you knew it!"

"Yea, but it took my way too long. Ms. Grant says we need to know it off our minds, we can't write it down like that. I'll never get there," She sighs, sinking back down in her chair.

"Yes you will," Castle says, squeezing her shoulder. "We just need to keep practicing," he smiles, smacking a kiss into her cheek, making her giggle. "Come on, what's the next one?

[] []

She's standing at the murder board, the timeline stretched out before her. It had been a long week, with a case the just wouldn't end. They either thought it was finally finished, wrapped up in a nice bow, until some piece of evidence fell through; or their lead ended in a dead end.

Kate reaches over, dry erase marker uncapped in her hand, to sip from her coffee cup before remembering it had gone empty two hours before. She sets the blue mug back down on the desktop, sighing, and runs a hand through her hair. If Castle were here, her cup would never had been empty, he remembers to fill it for her during cases like this when caffeine become her lifeline.

But he isn't here; not his day to play cop with her. He was _supposed_ to be getting work done, but knowing him: that work sat undone on his desk all day while he goofed off.

The elevator dings in the background, and she hardly notices until something moves in her peripheral vision. She turns and sees her daughter running over to her, still in her school uniform, her blonde hair flowing out behind the eight year old like a cape.

"Mom, mom, mom," Danielle squeals, crashing into her mom and hugging her tightly for a minute.

Kate has to step back to compensate for her daughter's force and laughs at how gleeful she is.

"Dani, how did you get here?" Kate asks.

Dani looks up, and smiles again. "Dad brought me from school. Mom, I passed!" she squeals again, holding up a paper to her mom.

It's a math test, with one hundred multiplication problems on it; this one covering the twelve's times tables.

Kate takes the test, smiling at the one hundred percent written and circled at the top of the page in red pen. She scans the paper quickly, and sure enough every problem is correct.

"Danielle, I am so proud of you!" Kate pulls the girl in for another hug.

They had been working on multiplication tables with all their kids all year long. All five struggled with it; but Danielle struggled the most. It just didn't click with her as fast as other things did. This last test had been the bane of her existence for the past month.

Every night she would go over the problems with one of her parents, but it never seems to click.

Until one day it did.

"Uncle Kevin, I passed," Danielle says, walking to her uncle's desk where he was hard at work re-running financial records for their current case.

"Let's see," Kevin says, setting down his pen and taking the paper from his niece. After a moment he lets out a laugh and slaps five with Danielle. "Good job, girl. See, I told you you could do it!"

"Let me see that," Javier says, walking past his partner's desk and taking the paper from his hands.

"Tio, I did it," Dani smiles, following the Hispanic detective to his desk.

"Twelve times eight?" Javier asks, holding the test to his chest; quickly quizzing his niece as if he doesn't believe the score on the page.

"Ninety-six," Danielle answers quickly.

That was one of the ones she struggled with the most.

"Good job, mama! I am so proud of you," Javi says, hugging his niece. Both jump back when a voice calls over them.

"What is going on?" Captain Gates is standing in her office doorway, not looking too pleased that none of her best detectives are working.

"Sorry, Sir," Kate apologizes for them all. "My daughter got some exciting news today that she couldn't wait to share, and we got a little carried away.

"I passed my twelves test," Danielle announces, holding up the paper for her mom's boss to see.

Gates slips on her glasses and walks over, taking the test. She smiles down at Danielle, who shrinks into Esposito's side, before giving the test back.

"Now, can we all get back to work?" Gates asks the team.

"Yes Sir," the three say, shuffling papers around.

"And Danielle," Gates starts, meeting the Third Grader's eyes. "Nice work, sweetheart," she smiles once more before turning back into the office, shutting the door behind her.

Kate breaks the momentary silence, holding out a hand. "Come on, Dani girl, Dad's waiting outside."

Dani nods, waves good-bye to her uncles before taking her mom's hand and walking with her to the elevator.

"Are you still coming to Liam's game?" she asks Kate as they wait by the doors.

"I promised, didn't I?" Danielle nods and murmurs an affirmative. "I'll be there," Kate nods, making sure Danielle gets onto the elevator safely before turning back to her desk.


End file.
